Perspicio

Music for houses / Housebroken

Tetrachordal Variations

for String orchestra and improvising soloist(s)

First performance: 1996

No score

English program note

(by Peter Bates)
According to Merriam Webster, a
tetrachord is a “diatonic series of four
tones with an interval of a perfect
fourth between the first and last.” But
don’t bother looking for tetrachords
in this mini-saxophone concerto. Sit
back and relax as it evolves. It begins
as a leisurely series of introductory
statements in dialog with a dimly-lit
nightclub-style piano. The soulful
wailings of the sax recede as the
orchestra enters, still keeping the
piece in adagio tempo, but shimmering with tension. Beginning at about 3:
30, there is so much tension that you
feel all hell is about to break loose.
But it doesn’t. At 5:00 the simmering
volcano dies down and the sax plays
a series of staccato notes with the
piano that evolve into an effusion of
sentiment, as the orchestra enters
again with flourishes, a variation on
its first entrance. A freeform piano
solo prepares for another variation on
the duet. At about 9:00, the orchestral
accompaniment gets edgier and more
agitated, then surrenders to another
calm interlude with the saxophone.
Almost bi-polar in its mood instability,
“Tetrachordal Variations” teeters on
the edge of dissolution, but always
finds it way back, ultimately to calm
resolution.